


Rules of Engagement

by LogosMinusPity



Series: FangRai Forever [7]
Category: Final Fantasy XIII
Genre: Banter, Banter kink, Community: fangrai-forever, F/F, Happy birthday buddy!, Lightning is a troll and fang loves it, Prompt Fill, this is for you Z
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-14
Updated: 2013-07-14
Packaged: 2017-12-20 05:12:10
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,212
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/883330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LogosMinusPity/pseuds/LogosMinusPity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Fangrai Forever Prompt #165: "Fang loves banter. No, she REALLY loves banter, thanks to the fact that it usually leads to sex. When Lightning realises that their verbal sparring has an interesting effect, she is more than willing to play with it.<br/>CP Bonus: horny, flustered Fang with no release in sight as Lightning continues to troll her."</p>
            </blockquote>





	Rules of Engagement

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Zerrat](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zerrat/gifts).



> This is dedicated to Zerrat, in honor of a big, wondrous, and hopefully very happy birthday for you. You've been a tremendous author and member of the Fangrai Community, and I hope you continue to be for some time yet to come. Thanks for being an inspiration to the rest of us, and, most importantly, happy birthday!!!

Fang looked over all the details of the military contract one last time.  Tulliman’s Gorge had been known in her time for its rather notable population of triffids, and it seemed that hadn’t changed after five hundred years.  The aggressive flora were more than a bit of a hassle to deal with, but the the job was certainly doable, especially considering she still had all of her l’Cie magic at her disposal.  Triffids weren’t her favorite creature to handle—there was no glory in whacking the overgrown flowers apart—but not every contract could be to go stop a raging adamantoise, now could it?

She nodded one last time to herself, and then looked up at the conference room filled with Guardian Corps officers, Lightning included.

“Clearing that gorge won’t be the easiest job, but I should be able to handle it.” For the fee that they had agreed upon, of course. “Nothing I can’t manage.”

Fang couldn’t help but end with a bragging grin, and she leaned back into her chair, her arms easily folded as she waited for any questions.  This was the time for one or two of the senior-most officers to politely ask a few about the plans Fang had explained.  The first time she had won a contract from the Corps, they had peppered her with a nearly third-degree interrogation.  However, after Fang showed time and time again that she was the best private contractor to be had, the questions dried up.  It was more a formality than anything else now, though sometimes Rygdea or Amodar would rile her up with a few ridiculously phrased queries, just for the sake of it.

Fang waited, ready for whatever would come, but she was not expecting the first question to come from whom it did.

“Nothing you can’t manage?”

Well, wasn’t that just the cutest.  Leave it to Lightning to up and question her abilities, as if this was her first rodeo.

Fang wanted to scoff, but she held it back, raising her eyebrows at Lightning in a nameless challenge. “Nothing at all.  I think my record shows that.”

Fang put a slight emphasis on the word “record”, and took the opportunity to run a quick up and down of Lightning’s seated figure, making sure it was noticed.

It was just too easy to fall into a trade of double entendres with Lightning.  Fang loved to lure and draw her out verbally just as much as physically.  The woman’s mind was equally as honed as her sword, and Fang loved to poke and prod those hidden thoughts at every given chance.  This was particularly true when they were at home, where the spoken contests could be so easily escalated into more pleasurable and physical pursuits. 

Of course, it was equally as fun to try and throw Lightning off of her game, and while Fang had no doubt that she would earn a reprimand for her situationally inappropriate commentary later, it would be entirely worth it. 

However, rather than the sharp look of warning that she had bargained for, Fang saw a low and secretive smile twitch at Lightning’s lips.  

“Your record shows a great many things, Fang, and not all of them exemplary.”

Well, well, well...it seemed as though she was in a playful mood today.

Fang grinned back wolfishly. 

_Excellent._

She felt her adrenaline begin to flow as she seized upon the opportunity to jump right back.

“But all equally... _interesting_ , yes?  And I’m sure there’s a great many more things that can be added to it...”

She waggled her eyebrows, waiting for Lightning to make the next move in their invisible game of chess.

“And I would hate for a poor performance to be one of them.”

Oh, _ouch_.  Quite uncalled for.

Fang straightened.  A thrill of competitively-fueled excitement ran through her.  Lightning might think she was clever, but Fang had more to her name than just a pretty face, too.

“I think my performance has been top notch.  How did you describe it once...’amazing’?”

Lightning was unperturbed.  She countered immediately and without hesitation. “And how did you describe mine once?  ‘Mind-blowing’ was the exact term, I believe.  I would say that leaves something to live up to.”

She hadn’t thought _that_ would be Lightning’s response, not here of all places, in the middle of a military meeting with her superiors present, and it made a sudden and unexpected heat flush through her.  She felt desire rear its curious head from within her core.  With a sudden burst of intuition, she realized what was happening.  Lightning wasn’t simply playing back with her.  She was egging her on. 

Lightning knew—oh, how she had to know—what Fang’s response was to their periodic bouts of banter.  It was always a way to get her blood running, to grab her attention and interest, and to begin turning it toward other ideas.

 _That_ realization pulled Fang back for a short second.  Just what was Lightning playing at?

But she couldn’t back out now, not when Lightning had so clearly thrown down the gauntlet before her.  She would never hear the end of it later.  And beside, why would she want to take a step back from this?  Defeat was not a word in her personal dictionary, leastwise not concerning Lightning Farron.

“I’d say I’m more than up for the challenge, wouldn’t you?”

_Anyday, anywhere._

“Debateable.”

Oh, it was _on_ now.

“You think I’m not?”

Lightning made a low sound of speculation, all too close to a moan in Fang’s ears. “But can you finish it out?  Close the deal, so to speak?”

“Of course I can!” She replied with a bit more rigor than intended, and tried to transition into a more cocky tone. “I _always_ do.”

Lightning lips twisted into a more apparent smile. “Always aiming to please, hmm?”

That second questioning noise _was_ all too familiar to other various memories; it caught Fang off guard, and she felt her desire further uncoil from within her gut.  It took a moment for her to swallow in her suddenly parched mouth.

“Always aiming to be the best.  Unless you had any concerns with the results?’

Lightning raised a hand to her chin in faux-thought. “ _Should_ I have any concerns?”

What kind of question was that?!

Fang settled for making a dismissive sound, allowing her eyes to yet again settle upon Lightning’s statuesque face, and feeling prickles of want start to flutter in waves across her skin. 

“What do you think?” she retorted, trying to grin suggestively, though Lightning still seemed almost candidly unaffected.

“Well, are your skills quite where they need to be?  You haven’t gotten rusty, now have you?”

“Me?  Rusty?” Fang leaned further in, letting some of the wanton heat into her gaze. “Sure you haven’t gotten it flipped around the wrong way, talking about yourself?  Maybe we need to...spar a bit.  Brush up.”

Preferably right after this meeting was finished, considering how deep in the gutter her thoughts were progressing.

She saw Lightning’s nostrils flare at the jab, and she had to restrain the automatic reflex to rub her hands together in a mix of glee and anticipation.  Lightning, however, wasn’t finished yet. 

“So your five-hundred-year nap won’t be slowing you down, then?”

Oh, how Fang just craved to _show_ her, right here and right now, just how five hundred years had done nothing to diminish her strength and her...stamina.  She gritted her teeth for a moment and flexed her fingers, failing to rein in her growing desire.

“Hardly,” she responded, leaning back into her chair and trying to look equally as disinterested as Lightning. “ _You_ can testify to that.”

_Ha!  Take that, Light!_

Lightning shrugged. “Not sure I _can_ testify to that.”

Someone in the room—it might have been Amodar—very skillfully managed to turn a choke into a tasteful cough while Fang could only stare back. 

“Close your mouth before you catch flies, Fang.” It was impossible not to hear the underlying smirk of victory in Lightning’s voice.

Dammit, but the woman was doing this all on purpose, there was no doubt about it now.  And perhaps even worse, for all that Fang knew Lightning was deliberately baiting her, she couldn’t help but rise to it.  It was second nature to her.  The insinuations, the quiet challenges...she wasn’t like Lightning, who would turn her chin up in proud insult.  No, for Fang it was different.  There was a giddy excitement that would awaken in her to every taunt thrown, no matter how trivial.  And when Lightning was the one doing the throwing, it evoked something even more primal and basic in her.

If they were at home—hell, if they were nearly anywhere else—the results would be simple and direct.  Fang would get up from her seat.  She would stalk across the room, each footstep as deliberately menacing as possible.  When she finally reached where her girlfriend sat, she would haul her up out of the chair, maybe by the collar.  She would push her down against the table and have her way with Light right then and there, wipe that smug and self-satisfied grin off her face until she was gasping and begging and pleading Fang for more.  Or maybe Fang would haul her up out of her chair, and before there was even time for protests, sling the woman over one shoulder, and carry off her beautiful prize to a more private corner where Fang could lavish her with her fingers and mouth and tongue until she couldn’t even stand for the after effects that Fang had on her.  Various scenarios in her head aside, the point was—given any other situation—she would normally already be halfway out of her seat and a half-skip closer to screwing her girlfriend senseless.  At the very least, Fang would be making sure she had the last word, metaphorically or otherwise.

But as it stood, they weren’t anywhere else.  They were in the middle of a goddamn military conference!  And Fang doubted the top brass present would be anything close to understanding of how hot and bothered she was by her girlfriend’s shameless and deliberate verbal sparring with her.

Fang felt her jaw clench as she exhaled heavily.

It was hard to bring her focus back into the needed PG rating, to not actively shift in her seat, to keep from thinking about every little way she just wanted to pin Lightning up against the wall and run her hand down her stomach and under the waistband of her pants so that she could...

“Fang?”

Her breath hissed out and she snapped her eyes back open.  Nearly everyone in the room was focused on her, but her attention was on only one particular officer.

Lightning’s face was its usual stony mask, but her eyes gleamed with mocking amusement, and the clear knowledge that she knew _exactly what she was doing_.

The woman was a bloody tease, and deliberately pushing her in the most inappropriate and unfair of situations, even by Fang’s standards.  But what the hell was she supposed to do?

_I’m sorry gentlemen, but you’ll have to excuse me for a few while I go shove my hands down Officer Farron’s pants.  We should be back in a bit!_

Yeah, that would go over _really_ well.

Fang cleared her throat, shifted and felt her spandex press tightly against her.  Her tongue ducked out briefly to wet her lips and she had to mentally shake herself to jump start any kind of mental response.

Lightning was playing dirty, but Fang would damned if she was going to be cornered by it.  She had to fight back.

“Mmm...” She allowed her voice to bleed out in a low purr, the exact same kind she would use with Light in the privacy of their bedroom. “Just... _thinking_.”

Fang had thrown some of her best into that response, and Lightning’s perfect mask refused to even crack.  If anything, the corners of her eyes crinkled with the effort of concealing her...

_...amusement?!_

The blasted woman was _amused_ with Fang’s response, as if knowingly getting her girlfriend hot and bothered in front of a group of military contractors was a new and entertaining pastime of hers.

 _That_ cut out the edge from Fang’s envisioned counter-attack very quickly, and she found herself struggling to pull up the right words next, for once at a loss of any comeback or quip.

Amodar coughed loudly, and then spoke. “Well, I think we’re all fairly well versed with your work as a private contractor, so unless there were any further issues to be brought up...?  Then let’s sign the papers and close the deal.”

She barely registered the majordomo giving the usual recitation of contract duties and fulfillment procedures; when the paper was handed over to her she immediately signed in a messy scrawl that could barely be constituted as her normal signature, not even bothering to glance over the contract papers themselves.

Amodar raised an eyebrow at her unusual behavior, but said nothing as he took the papers back for safekeeping.

There. The contract was done and signed, so now she and Lightning could get the hell out of here and get down to—

“Ladies!”

She bit down a snarl of frustration when Rygdea cut off her planned escape.

“You know, it’s been a while since the two of you have put on a sparring demo for the base, and we just got a new batch of raw recruits in.  What do you think?  You up for one this afternoon?  I can put the call out and have it good to go in thirty.”

“No th—”

“Of course we would love to,” said Lightning, her voice overriding Fang’s.

“Great!” said Rygdea, clapping them both on the shoulder in thanks. ‘We’ll have it all set up in a jif.”

Fang gave the flattest and most incredulous stare she could, not even caring that her jaw hung open in disbelief this time.

Surely, _surely_ , Lightning was joking?

But the way her eyes glimmered and and her lips continued to press together in an attempt to hold back a smile told Fang what she already knew: Lightning was hardly finished toying with her.

“Why don’t you go wait in my office until the sparring demo?” Then she delivered the final blow. “I need to discuss some things with the Commander until then.”

Fang tried—she _tried_ —to come up with a witty response.  Yet her mind was a helplessly blank and dazed slate, filled only with the images of what she still wanted to be _doing_ to the woman in front of her, and sparring did not fit into that category.

When her vocal chords were not forthcoming, Lightning patted her lightly and diminutively on the shoulder, as if to say, “run along now”.

Fang took one frantic moment to stare at Lightning, then at Rygdea, and then at all of the other top rank and file officers that were still clustered in the conference room.  What was she supposed to do?

A minute later found her walking down the long hallway toward where Lightning’s office was, still dreadfully alone with only the sharp longing in between her thighs to keep her company.

It was only once the door swished closed behind her that Fang regained some sense of herself.

“Fuck!” She spat the word out loud, slamming her forearm heavily against the wall of the empty office. “You have got to be kidding me!”

She had been damn well played...and by her own girlfriend!

Oh, she knew that Lightning could be a bloody tease when she wanted to, but this was just flat out unfair!  Fang had no way to retaliate, no way to make even.  And worst of all, she had no compensation for the personal torture that she was now in courtesy of Lightning.

_Damn Lightning and damn my own cursed response!_

They were supposed to be sparring in front of roughly two hundred soldiers, both officers and recruits, in less than a half hour.

Though Fang normally relished the chance to demonstrate some flashy moves before the military types, she was in no condition right now to put on a good show for the base—at least, not the show they were expecting.  Sparring was a different kind of exercise for the mind and body, but Fang was far too turned on now.

 _If_ she managed to not get shown up by a currently more focused and cool-headed Lightning... _if_ Fang managed to gain the upper hand...there was no question in her pulsing blood as to what kind of submission she would force her woman into.  And the last thing anyone needed was for Fang to pin Lightning to the sandy ground of the sparring ring and start kissing her silly in front of a whole slew of GC officers and recruits alike.

Which was undoubtedly why Lightning had sent her back to the office.

... _to “cool down”._

Fang teetered her way toward the back of Lightning’s desk, fighting off the urge to pull her hair or possibly scream in frustration.

Lightning had given no indication that she would be returning to the office before the sparring match, and considering that she had yet to show up in the few minutes since Fang had arrived, her options were rapidly dwindling.

Fang grabbed a handful of Lightning’s jacket from where it hung loosely across the chair.  She brought it to her nose and inhaled deeply.  It held the scent of the woman she knew so well—the floral shampoo she used, the lavender soap, and the faint smell underneath it all that was distinctly _Lightning_.

A shiver ran down her back, and she felt the fragile grip on her self-control slip and break.

She leaned back against the desk and groaned, even while cursing her girlfriend under her breath.

“...bloody tease...leaving me to take care of myself...”

Her hand drifted under her sari, moved toward her waist and the top of her black spandex.  Just as she was about to dip her fingers below the band of the restrictive material, the door hissed open unannounced, and Lightning entered, a knowing smile on her face as she stopped and surveyed Fang from across the room.

“Light,” Fang whined, not caring how plaintive her voice sounded.  She was beyond her breaking point, and the only thing that consumed her thoughts now was need.

The damned woman shook her head the tiniest fraction, and then clicked the door lock into place.  Fang avidly watched Lightning’s every move as she slowly closed the distance and came around the desk to stand a bare foot in front of her

“I really did a number on you, didn’t I?” Her voice was a smirk in the air.

It was cruel and unusual punishment, and Fang gave her a baleful glare in response.  Lightning had known exactly what havoc she had wrought, just as she knew exactly what she was doing as she pulled Fang’s hands away from the spandex and then replaced it with her own against Fang’s lower abdomen.

“You’re a real bitch sometimes,” complained Fang, not even embarrassed at the way her skin jumped and responded to Lightning’s simple touch.

“Mmmhmm.” Lightning’s voice vibrated along her throat as the woman began trailing light kisses there. “Then let me make it up to you.”

It took only the lightest of presses—it was not even remotely close to a shove—and she was pushed backward, forced to sit on the desk while Lightning leaned in close, her eyes smoky and dark and terribly hypnotic.  The hands that forced Fang onto that wide and generous space of desk soundlessly returned to her waist, hooking around the material of her spandex.  Lightning paused for a second, and Fang felt her throat muscles move as she swallowed loudly.

Then the spandex were pulled right off of her legs without any delay, allowing the cool office air to drift against the pool of heat centered between her legs.

There were no pretenses, no slow or drawn out foreplay.  This was a simple issue of need and desire, and now Lightning was here to provide that relief.

So Fang wasn’t surprised when fingers immediately reached between her legs and gave a quick and hard stroke.  She jerked at the sudden contact, and Lightning pulled back enough to laugh softly.

Fang’s brow narrowed but before she could utter a reply the fingers were pressing into her again, and Fang hips were instinctively pressing back.  Her words escaped her in a sharp gasp.

“Easy, Fang,” Lightning reassured. “I’m here now.”

Then Lightning’s mouth covered hers, and she moaned desperately into it.  Screw any false sense of pride or dignity.  Lightning had been toying with her libido for the better portion of the past hour, and Fang was going to damn well take what she could while it was being offered.

Another groan left her as a wet and warm tongue swiped lazily against her lower lip, and she raggedly inhaled another gulp of air.  While Lightning kissed her hard, her hand continued moving, causing Fang’s thighs to jump and quiver in response.  This was what she had been waiting for, needing...on the verge of giving into herself had Lightning not made her timely entrance.  She gladly surrendered to her pleasure, letting it swamp her senses with an aching need for release from the intense desire that shivered across her skin and engrossed her mind.

Fang pulled back from the kissing, gasping and trying to catch her breath.  She couldn’t focus on kissing anymore, on the things that Lightning could do with her mouth.  It was what her hand was doing that now completely consumed Fang’s thoughts, and even as her arms quaked against the sturdy desk and she approached her climax, she was begging for more.  She _needed_ more.

“L-Light...” It was a struggle to get even that out. “I...I need...”

“Mmmm.”

Lightning hummed against her neck, her teeth now moving against the delicate and flushed skin there.  The free hand that had been pressed up against Fang’s taut and heaving diaphragm moved between her legs, hearing the unspoken request.

Fang felt two fingers enter her, curl inside of her and begin matching the natural rhythm that her hips were trying to move to.  All the while, the other hand continued moving in hurried, strong circles against her, keeping her trembling and shaking and unable to form even the simplest of words anymore.

Her breath came in short and aching little gasps, and her shoulders strained as her hips edged off the desk and up into Lightning’s fingers, still needing more to get there, _just a little bit more_...

Then suddenly every muscle was seizing, and her back arched as her legs clamped tightly against Lightning’s sides.  The relief was all-consuming, surging through her veins in a sweet and white-hot culmination of pleasure.

Her lungs gave out in a loud and wordless sound.  Fang nearly collapsed forward, one hand curling around to clutch at the back of Lightning’s neck while the other remained braced against the desk.

She felt Lightning readjust beneath her, and then fingers were brushing away her sweat-dampened curls of hair, and Fang opened her eyes to see a knowing gaze studying her face.

Fang snorted a bit when she saw the smirk twisting Lightning’s lips upward.  Bloody Farron ego rearing its head again.

“Mighty proud of ourselves, aren’t we?”

The smirk grew.

“You seemed like you needed some help,” responded Lightning easily.

Fang hopped down from the desk to collect her discarded spandex, her legs wobbling precariously for a moment as her feet landed. “Did I now?”

Lightning sat back into her nearby chair. “Indeed.”

That called for a second snort and a rolling of eyes as Fang began pulling her garment back on. “No thanks to you, _Captain_.”

There was a low and easy laugh from the chair, and when she turned she found Lightning genuinely smiling with mirth, though the heat of latent desire still glinted in her eyes. “I didn’t hear any complaints.”

Fang took two long steps and and leaned down over the chair, placing her hands against the armrests to pin Lightning where she was.  It was Fang’s turn to give a toothy grin. “Certainly not.  Though I think you might deserve a good arse-whooping in our sparring demo to make up for everything.”

She loved the way that Lightning tilted her chin up, meeting Fang’s gaze eye for eye and not batting a lash as she proudly proclaimed, “You could try.”

It sent a shiver of adrenaline rushing through her all over again, and she felt the same familiar warmth begin to curl deep in her abdomen, though she pushed it aside for now.  This was what she loved about dating Lightning—the constant push and pull, both in and out of bed.

She chuckled before placing a quick kiss on the lips offered before her.

For the moment, they both had other matters to attend to.  But Fang was not concerned.

She allowed a downright wicked and sinful grin to plaster over her face.

There would be time enough to return favors later. 


End file.
